This International Women’s Day join us to celebrate and learn from the women who are successfully changing the face of leadership in their respective fields.

Based on new data published by the Globe & Mail, the reality for women – especially women of colour – is grim. Even in 2021, a very small number of women are breaking through the glass ceiling in the public or private sector.

According to the article, “For women in the workplace, progress has stalled. By almost every metric, they continue to lag generations behind men.” Not surprisingly, women of colour are further outnumbered, outranked and out-earned.

Research from Catalyst reveals that 33% to 50% of Black, East Asian, and South Asian professionals report being highly on guard to protect against bias. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, gains made for women around the world are being lost. In December, the US economy lost 140,000 jobs. ALL of them were held by women. In Canada, unemployment rates are higher for women of colour in comparison to white women.

So, how challenging and emotionally taxing is the pursuit of leadership for women of colour in Canada? Let’s find out from leaders who are currently creating pathways for future generations in their respective fields! These inspiring leaders will also discuss their secrets on self-care, success and more.

An event link will be sent to those who register a few days prior to the event.

Panel Bios: Justine Abigail Yu (Moderator)

Justine Abigail (she/her) is a fierce advocate for equity and anti-oppression. As a communications and marketing strategist, she has worked with organizations operating in North America, Central America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. Her expertise lies in growing enterprises from the ground up through strategic digital marketing, compelling storytelling, and genuine community engagement through a lens of anti-oppression.

She is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Living Hyphen, an emerging magazine that explores the experiences of living in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – that is, an individual who calls Canada home but who has roots elsewhere. She is an award-winning writing workshop facilitator whose work with Living Hyphen has been featured on national and local media outlets including Yahoo! News, NextShark, CTV National News, and the CBC.

Dr. Jill Andrew

Dr. Jill Andrew, PhD is the MPP for Toronto - St. Paul's and the first Queer Black person to sit in the legislature in Ontario and reportedly any legislature across Canada. She is also the Women's Issues & Culture critic for the Ontario NDP Official Opposition and a founding member of the Ontario NDP Black Caucus, a first of its kind in Ontario's history.

Jill was elected for the first time in June of 2018 and since then has gone on to pass her first Private Member's Bill 61 (Eating Disorder Awareness Week).

Before politics Jill served in education as a child and youth worker, teacher, student equity program advisor and university course instructor. Outside of politics Jill is the co-founder of Body Confidence Canada.

Rashmi Vohra

Rashmi Vohra is the District Vice President of Retail Banking at TD Bank Group. She joined TD in January 2015 as the AVP for Learning and Development. Prior to joining TD, Rashmi worked in the Telecom industry with Rogers communications. At Rogers, she was involved with mentorship, storytelling and active sponsorship programs to narrow the gap between the executive teams and first-time managers.

Rashmi is active with The Daily Bread Food bank, ACCES Employment Agency, board member of Pink Attitude and active speaker at external events building awareness of innovative human capital practices within organizations specifically with business benefits of a diverse workforce.

Janelle Hinds

Janelle Hinds is an entrepreneur, public speaker, facilitator and Diversity Equity and Inclusion strategic consultant.

As the founder and Executive Director at Helping Hands, she facilitates workshops for newcomer, racialized and low socioeconomic youth to build leadership skills and to ensure all youth are active citizens. She also has extensive expertise in the world of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

She was recently awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 as the only Canadian for Education, as well as United Way of Greater Toronto’s Youth Leadership Award, Samara’s Everyday Political Citizen Award and Dutch organization Inspiring Fifty’s Top Women in Technology and Innovation. She is a fellow for the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the prestigious CivicAction’s DiverseCity Fellowship Program.

Dr. Lisa Richardson

Dr. Lisa Richardson is a clinician-educator and general internist at Toronto General Hospital. Her background is mixed-blood Anishinaabe and she is the Strategic Lead in Indigenous Health for Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Women's College Hospital.

She is an Associate Professor and is Vice-Chair, Culture and Inclusion, in the Department of Medicine. Her scholarship focuses on Indigenous health education, health equity and inclusion, and she holds numerous national leadership roles to advance this work.